Students approved for off-campus

The usual anxieties surrounding student bids to live off-campus were largely absent this year as the Office of Resident Life approved every student who applied for the permission to move out of the dorms.

In total, 197 students have been made offers to live off-campus for the 2009-10 school year—slightly more than the 193 students currently living off-campus in non-college owned property.

“This year is the first year I was able to offer to everyone on the list,” said Laura Gogg, Resident Life/Student Housing Technical Assistant.
Fewer students applied for off-campus this year.
Last year, 230 offers to live off-campus were made including call-ups from the waitlist.

Last year the College increased the number of students who received a “first round” offer to reduce the number of waitlisted students participating in room draw. In the past waitlisted students would find a room on campus, and would create complications if later they got approval to move off campus, according to Gogg.

“To avoid such confusions, we made a personal quest to change this, and hence we tried to equalize the number of approvals and the number of sign ups,” Gogg said. “Last year was the first year I was allowed to offer more initial offers … based off the historical data I compiled to support offering more spaces prior to room draw.”

Gogg said that these changes were unrelated to the large size of the class of 2012 and housing difficulties related to them.

Hugh Redford ’10, who currently lives in an apartment on Main, said he did not apply for housing last year, because of the perception third-years would not easily gain approval, but moved off-campus later when he found out it was viable. “I was pretty sure I would not get [approval]. I had my upperclassmen tell me that off-campus housing was really hard to get, and how they had been rejected,” Redford said. “I hardly knew it would be such a painless process.”

Student perceptions have already shifted. “All I had to do was put my name in,” said Jerome Simmons ’10. “I almost expected the approval as well.”